


Soft

by aireyv



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Gen, Platonic Cuddling, Possibly Unrequited Love, lil bit of sex talk, platonic motorboating, roasting teammates in internal monologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 17:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16769638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aireyv/pseuds/aireyv
Summary: Liquid is sad because Mantis won't love him so he and Wolf snuggle.





	Soft

**Author's Note:**

> My girlfriend (hingabee) helped me a bit with this, the last paragraph is lifted from her almost word-for-word and she gave me the title too ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

It was more charitable to assume Mantis was a mouthbreathing idiot with his head stuck up his own ass, who was too lazy and cocky to even casually scan the minds of his teammates. It was the only way to explain why “the most powerful practitioner of telepathy in the world” could _possibly_ be so fucking oblivious to his boss’ huge obvious crush on him that _literally everyone else in FOXHOUND was fully aware of_ without assuming that Mantis was actually a heartless bastard stringing Liquid along and playing way too coy for their poor boss’ fragile little heart.

Or maybe he was just shy. Though Wolf was of the opinion that, with how attached-at-the-hip he and Liquid had been for as long as she’d known them, Mantis really should have called Liquid out by now. Liquid, for his part, _was_ horrifically shy and totally expected to be called out at some point. What were psychics for if not for conveniently resolving longstanding emotional issues, right?

Well, Mantis wasn’t about to change who he was, even if who he was was just useless. This conveniently left everyone else to pick up the pieces, mostly Wolf, really, because somehow or other Wolf had ended it being Liquid’s backup emotional support for when Mantis was being an asshole. Maybe it was the fact that they were close in age (compared to FOXHOUND’s average age range) or used the same brand shampoo (which was relevant because it was expensive but way cheaper to go splitsies on one of the jumbo-sized bottles from Costco). Or maybe Liquid just had mommy issues and Wolf was the only one here with boobs. Either/or.

“Mmm…”

“Boss, the more weird noises you make, the less platonic this seems.”

“I’m not making weird noises,” Liquid said.

“Yes you are,” Wolf said, patting him condescendingly on the head. “You already have your face in my tits, the last thing we want is for people to assume we are an _item_.”

“I do not have my face in your tits,” Liquid muttered, despite the fact that he totally did — they’d sat down to watch some TV while Liquid calmed down, and Wolf had hugged him, and it had progressed from shoulder-to-shoulder leaning-against-each-other cuddling to Liquid curled up, practically in Wolf’s lap, hiding his face against Wolf’s chest. He really was _that_ desperate for human contact. “And don’t sound so offended that people might think we’re a—“

“I don’t want to intrude on Mantis’ territory.”

Liquid sighed loudly. The fact that he _wasn’t_ Mantis’ territory was what was depressing him today.

“Aw, boss…” She rubbed his back. “Mantis is a stick wrapped in leather anyway. You would still be coming to me for physical affection.”

“Nnn.”

“I am soft and warm, mm?”

“Mmhm…”

Wolf chuckled. Liquid was a grab bag of various mental, emotional, and personality disorders, but at least he was cute. Plus it was nice for Wolf to get some hugs in, too; she was only human, after all, just like Liquid (even if he seemed under the impression that clones didn’t really count as _Homo sapiens_ ), and that meant naturally that sometimes she just… craved the human touch. Liquid’s clingy ass was a great way to get it, since he was an attractive buff shirtless man who didn’t try to turn cuddle sessions into anything other than that. It was literally like something out of a commercial targeting unmarried women ages 35-54.

“You should give me a raise for this,” Wolf said.

“Don’t talk to me about your salary if it’s not your annual review, please.”

“What part of my annual review does this fall under? Is there a ‘quality time with the boss’ section?”

“Wolf…”

“Better keep that secret from the others or you will never know what they’ll start putting in your drinks.”

Liquid peered up at her. “I don’t like the sound of that,” he said.

“Shush.” She pushed his head back down, then started braiding his hair, humming. “That was a joke. Relax, boss.”

“You really need to learn how to _sound_ like you’re joking when you’re having a laugh.”

“And you need to stop taking everything everyone says straight to heart. Mantis _won’t_ get mad at you if you admit to being attracted to him, you know.”

“That—! That’s not…!!”

“He just wants to put on a front.”

“…you can’t just tell me to relax and then segue into my relationship problems.”

Wolf rolled her eyes. “Fine, if you want to just whine and not do anything forever.”

Liquid was silent for a while. “You really think he won’t be mad?”

“I _know_ he won’t be mad. If he is, I will just… ‘convince’ him to cut you some slack. Though I do not really see why he would have a problem in the first place, admitting you like him like that is not the same thing as offering to fuck him into the ground and even if it _was_ it’s not like that would make babies anyway so I do not really see why Mantis even has a problem with it.”

“Wolf, don’t be so… graphic about this,” Liquid said, flushing.

She shrugged. “You know I am right.”

“Hn.”

“And of course I will still be here to cuddle you when Mantis inevitably does not put out~”

Liquid made an indignant little grumble but other than that didn’t reply. Wolf put the finishing touches on his hair. He really was very cute even if he had troubles facing his personal life like a man. Or maybe that made him cuter. Most men weren’t very open about their needs for touch and affection — but then again, most men weren’t open about it because they were afraid of being judged, so maybe the fact that Liquid liked to nuzzle and hug and get his hair stroked made him, in actuality, pretty macho.

Either that or he was just living up to his namesake and wrapping himself around any heat source that might also give him food too. It was hard to tell with him.

In the end, though, Wolf supposed that his exact motivations didn’t really matter much. It was just nice when he got the chance to calm down and enjoy himself instead of being his high-strung monologuing manic-depressive self all day. And Wolf was happy to be included in that.


End file.
